Penguins' Antti Niemi: Looking to rebound

Niemi will start in goal on the road against the Lightning on Thursday, Sam Werner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Analysis:

The Finnish netminder was awful in his Penguins debut last Thursday, as he surrendered four goals on 13 shots before getting yanked from the cage less than 10 minutes into an eventual 10-1 loss to the Blackhawks. Niemi is firmly entrenched as the No. 2 backup behind Matt Murray, but he'll face yet another stiff test -- this time against a Lightning squad that features Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, who are some of the best forwards in the league joining underrated playmaker Vladislav Namestnikov on that top line and first power-play unit.